


Tangled

by fionasfables



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Tangled (2010)
Genre: Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Inspired by Tangled (2010), Mild Smut, Prince Ben Solo, Scavenger Rey (Star Wars), Sorry Not Sorry, The Mouse Had It Comin'
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:27:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24938284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fionasfables/pseuds/fionasfables
Summary: 18 years after the crown prince of Alderaan goes missing, the Kingdom's most wanted bandit, Rey Skywalker, a thief with a stolen last name, is taken hostage by Kylo Ren - a young man with more than seventy feet of magical hair who's looking to escape the tower where he's been locked away for years - the unlikely duo sets off on a hair raising escapade.***A Reylo retelling of Disney's masterpiece of an animated film, Tangled, because Rey and Ben just fit so perfectly into Flynn and Rapunzel's story while still leaving just enough room for a unique twist.Or - the Tangled AU nobody asked for (without singing - but, with song lyrics!).
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	Tangled

_This is the story of how I, Rey Skywalker, died._

_But don’t worry, this is actually a very fun story, and the truth is, it isn’t even mine. Not really. It’s the story of a boy named Ben Solo._

_It starts with the sun. Once upon a time, a single drop of sunlight fell from the heavens, and from this small drop of sun grew a magic flower. It had the ability to heal the sick and injured. Oh, you see that old wizard over there? What a sight for sore eyes. His name is Snoke. You’ll want to remember him. He’s kind of important._

_Well, centuries passed, and a hop, skip, and a boat ride away there grew the Kingdom of Alderaan. The kingdom was ruled by the beloved Queen Leia Organa and her consort, King Han Solo. Queen Leia was about to have a baby, but she got very sick, and her people became desperate. She was running out of time, so the Alderaanians began looking for a miracle; there were rumors of a magic flower with a power like life itself._

_Remember Snoke? I told you he would be important. Instead of sharing the sun’s gift, Snoke hoarded its life sustaining energy, twisting its inherent goodness and using it to become the most powerful dark sorcerer in the land for hundreds of years._

_Alright, you get the gist, right? He creepily used it for his own personal gain, exploiting the sun’s light until the flower became dark and, quite frankly, kind of scary. It could still be used to heal and grant immeasurable power, but at great cost - Snoke became withered and decrepit, and he knew that he needed someone younger and stronger to become a vessel for the life force of the flower and carry on his evil legacy._

_Snoke heard of Queen Leia’s plight - and that she would do anything to save her unborn child. So Snoke disguised himself as a benevolent sympathizer and took the flower to her. Its magic healed the Queen._

_A healthy baby boy, a Prince, was born, with beautiful black hair. I’ll give you a hint - that was Ben. To celebrate his birth, the Queen and King launched a flying lantern into the sky. Alderaan rejoiced, and for that one moment, everything was perfect._

_And then that moment ended._

_Snoke, sensing unmatched, raw power in Prince Ben courtesy of the flower’s healing elixir, broke into the castle, stole the child, and just like that - gone! Queen Leia and King Han were heartbroken, and they blamed themselves for Ben’s abduction._

_Alderaan searched and searched, but they could not find their beloved Prince Ben, for deep within the Outer Forest, in a hidden tower, Snoke raised the child as his own. Snoke had found his heir apparent, and he trained the boy in his dark magic. The Prince became a powerful sorcerer, loyal to Snoke alone, unaware that his family grieved the loss of their only son. Snoke was determined to keep Ben Solo hidden until the time was right, even going so far as to give him a new name - Kylo Ren, Prince of Darkness._

_Once, little Kylo asked Snoke why he couldn’t go outside. Snoke’s answer was simple - Kylo’s hair, which had grown longer and longer until it cascaded past his feet, was a gift, and it granted him all of his magic powers._

_“The outside world is a dangerous place,” Snoke had said, “Filled with horrible, selfish people. You must stay here, where you’re safe, until the time comes for you to show yourself to the world. Do you understand, Kylo?”_

_“Yes, Father,” little Kylo had replied._

_But the walls of that tower could not hide everything. Each year, on his birthday, the Queen and King released thousands of lanterns into the sky, in hope that one day their lost Prince Ben would return. Kylo watched these lanterns in awe and wonder, hidden from Snoke, and he kept these memories close to his heart, where the evil old sorcerer could never find them._

***

“Ha!” Kylo threw open the wooden shutters on the single window of the gigantic tower, whipping his head to the left and right, searching for his little friend among the flower pots adorning the sill. He pushed a chunk of his extraordinarily long, thick, black hair out of his eyes before crossing his arms in front of himself and saying, “Hmm. Well, I guess Artoo isn’t hiding out here.”

He had seen the ridiculous little chameleon, of course, even heard him giggling off in the daisies to his right - but Kylo played along joyfully, feigning as if he was heading back into his circular room to check in the wardrobe or something before - 

“Gotcha!” Kylo yelled, using his magic hair to trap Artoo before he could scurry away, and the grumpy blue chameleon stuck his tongue out at him. 

“That’s twenty two for me,” Kylo goaded, dropping Artoo in his linen shirt pocket before padding across the room, his bare feet sinking into the plush, soft rug, ducking his head to avoid smacking it on a low hanging beam, “How about twenty three out of forty five?”

Artoo gave an indignant beep. Kylo rolled his eyes.

“Well what do you want to do, then?”

Artoo squeaked and pointed his tail towards the open window.

“Yeah, I don’t think so.”

Kylo grabbed the silly little thing by its tail and walked back toward the window before swinging his legs over the ledge and dangling his feet in the air, setting Artoo on his thigh. He stared wistfully out at the forest below them.

“I like it in here, and so do you.”

Artoo gave him a condescending look and blew him a raspberry.

“Oh come on, Artoo,” Kylo rolled his eyes, picking up the miniature monster, “It’s not so bad in there.”

Kylo knew he was really only trying to convince himself, which was not a simple task at all. For nearly eighteen years, and as long as Kylo could remember, his days had proceeded exactly the same. Seven A.M. - wake up call. Then he started his chores, and swept until the floor was all clean. He polished and waxed, did laundry, mopped, and shined up. By then, it was like seven - fifteen, so he started Snoke’s lessons, which usually involved reading a book, or maybe two, or even three. He practiced all sorts of dark magic - the kind that allowed you to choke people without laying a finger on them, or send frightening images into their mind, or even...kill them. Kylo had never had to kill anyone before, and he sincerely hoped he would never have to in the future. He was grateful to Snoke for his teachings, of course. They helped keep him safe and strong. He could protect both himself and his Father this way. 

Sometimes, though, Snoke talked about the world like it hated him, and he should hate it back. He wasn’t sure what he had done to make the world hate him. He had never even seen the world.

Snoke went out into the world often, whether it was to get them food, or clothes, or on missions. Snoke promised Kylo that when he had learned enough, and had proven himself, he could accompany his Father on these quests. Kylo wasn’t exactly sure what Snoke did out in the world, but he imagined it was heroic and brave, and involved saving innocent people from all the evil Snoke had promised him was out in the world. Kylo longed for the day when he could step foot outside this tower. That was the day his life would finally begin.

Of course, Kylo also spent a fair amount of each day tending to his hair, which had grown to be more than seventy feet long. Snoke told him his hair was a gift from the sun - god, and it granted him all his special powers, like being able to move things without touching them. Snoke had these powers too, but he was far more proficient than Kylo. His Father never told him the source of his own gifts, and Kylo had never asked.

Kylo’s hair was the reason Snoke kept him hidden away in this tower. He told him that he met bad people out in the world who would kill Kylo for the powers his hair possessed. Kylo, therefore, had to stay in the tower, away from such scum and villainy, until he could defend himself.

“Tomorrow night,” Kylo promised Artoo, the both of them looking at the clear blue skies up above, “The lights will be right up there, just like they are on my birthday every year. I wonder what it’s like,” Kylo mused, “Out there, where they glow? Now that I’m older, I think Father might just let me go.”

***

Rey slid down the red brick on the side of the turret, landing lightly on her feet before sprinting off across the teal rooftop, jumping nimbly between the ornate chimneys and white pillars of the Palace of Alderaan, Unkar Plutt and Teedo following close behind her. She wasn’t overly fond of the two burly, ugly henchmen, but they were a necessity. This wasn’t a one woman job.

Rey stopped abruptly, hooking her arm around a black spire, and gazed down at the Kingdom of Alderaan sprawled beneath her, the snow capped mountains a beautiful backdrop off in the distance. 

“Wow! I could get used to a view like this,” Rey exclaimed, feeling the wind whip through her three buns and around the grey cross wraps holding her white tunic in place.

“Skywalker,” hissed Plutt, glancing urgently around as if the Queen herself was about to appear on the rooftop with them, “Come on!”

“Hold on,” Rey held up a hand, unable to tear her gaze from the beauty manifested before her eyes, and placed her hands on her hips before continuing, “Yep. I’m used to it. Boys, I want a castle.”

“We do this job,” said Teedo menacingly, stalking forward and grabbing Rey by the scruff of her neck, “And you can buy your own castle.” He dragged her back towards the open slat in the shingles.

Next thing Rey knew, she was hooked up to a shoddy harness and Plutt and Teedo were lowering her into the Royal Archives, right above the crown of the Lost Prince of Alderaan. It was being guarded by no less than a dozen royal soldiers, but none of them were expecting a sneak attack from above, and she apprehended the target with no difficulty. The job was almost too easy, laughably easy, so when she stowed the crown safely in her satchel and heard a soldier sneeze, she couldn’t help but ask - 

“Ugh. Hay fever?”

“Yeah,” the guard said miserably, and by the time he realized she had been there, she was gone, hauled through the hole in the roof by Plutt and Teedo.

The guards rushed to the center of the room.

“Hey wait! Wait!”

Rey and her two henchmen were already sprinting across the cobblestone bridge away from the castle by the time the Alderaanian army had even figured out what happened.

“Can’t you picture me in a castle of my own?” Rey asked Plutt and Teedo happily, as they beelined for the Outer Forest, “Because I certainly can. All the things we’ve seen and it’s only eight in the morning! Boys, this is a very big day!”

***

“This is a very big day, Artoo!”

Kylo paced nervously, glancing around at the colorful artwork adorning his walls, telekinetically brushing his hair as he smoothed his hands out over his black pants. Artoo sat on his shoulder, listening dutifully.

“I’m finally going to do it! I’m going to ask him!”

Suddenly, a familiar voice floated up from the forest floor.

“Kylo? Kylo Ren? Let down your hair, my boy.”

It was Snoke, back from his most recent adventure. Kylo gasped in excitement.

“It’s time!” Kylo whispered to Artoo, and the little chameleon puffed out his chest in solidarity.

“I know, I know! Go on now, don’t let him see you!” Artoo made for the curtain and camouflaged himself behind it.

“Kylo? I’m not getting any younger down here.” Snoke’s voice had a little more of an edge to it this time.

“Coming, Father.”

Kylo ran to the window and looped his hair through the hook, glancing down at Snoke as he lowered his hair to the ground. His Father’s features were hidden by a dark cloak. He watched as Snoke hooked a hand and foot into his hair and Kylo pulled, hard, using all his physical strength - and a decent amount of his magical strength as well - to pull Snoke up through the window, grunting with the effort.

Snoke may not be getting any younger, but he definitely wasn’t getting any lighter.

As his Father stepped down from the window and into the light, Kylo surveyed him. Snoke was tall and thin as always, pale and drawn, his features wrinkled his hands gnarled. He looked significantly worse for wear than when he left. There was a fresh cut along his cheek, still wet with blood, he was favoring his right leg, and his left arm seemed to hang at an odd angle. Nothing Kylo couldn’t fix, of course, but it still worried him - what horrible monsters had his Father encountered that caused such injuries?

“Welcome home, Father.”

“Kylo,” Snoke grumbled, placing his good hand on Kylo’s shoulder, “How do you manage to do that every single day without fail? It looks absolutely exhausting, my child.” Snoke brushed his fingertips against Kylo’s dark hair.

“Oh,” Kylo chucked, leaning into Snoke’s touch, “It’s nothing.”

“Then I don’t know why it takes so long,” Snoke quipped, turning his back to Kylo and removing his cloak. This was one of the many times when Kylo was wholly unsure whether his Father was joking or serious.

As if Snoke had read his mind, he laughed cooly and said, “But of course, my boy, I jest.”

Kylo breathed a sigh of relief.

“Alright.”

Snoke summoned a chair to the center of the room and sat in it, motioning for Kylo to join him. Kylo knelt in front of his Father and, without a word, began healing his wounds, pouring his magic into the abrasions and fractures, starting with his face and working his way down to the twisted ankle. As he worked, Kylo pondered how, no matter how tall he grew, he never seemed to catch up to his Father in height, and according to his measurements, Kylo was well over six feet tall. Perhaps his Mother had been short. He didn’t know anything about Mother other than that Snoke told him she died when he was very young. He wondered about her often, but he knew better than to bring her up to his Father.

Once Snoke’s wounds were healed he summoned a chair for Kylo to sit in, and he took his place opposite his Father. Snoke seemed to know Kylo had something on his mind, so without preamble, he began, “Father, as you know, tomorrow is a very big day.”

“Is it?” Snoke responded lightly.

“Well, it’s my birthday,” Kylo continued, but Snoke interrupted again,

“No, no, no, it can’t be, my child. I distinctly remember your birthday was last year.”

“That’s the funny thing about birthdays,” he shot back, matching Snoke in his wit, “They’re kind of an annual thing.”

Kylo’s joke elicited no response from Snoke, so he sighed and sat back further in the chair, his elbows resting on his thighs.

“Father, I’m turning eighteen, and I wanted to ask...What I really want for this birthday - Well, actually what I’ve wanted for quite a few birthdays-”

“Kylo,” Snoke admonished, “Stop it with the mumbling, you know how I hate the mumbling. It’s very annoying.”

“Sorry, Father,” Kylo apologized, and he was about to abandon all hope of even trying again when he caught Artoo’s eye from across the room, and the little chameleon gestured encouragingly in Snoke’s direction, so he tried again, “Father, I want to see the floating lights!”

Snoke froze, his pale eyes the only part of him moving as he stared, unblinking, at Kylo.

“The lights? You mean the stars, my boy?”

“No,” Kylo shook his head and ran across the room to where his painting of the lights were hidden by a curtain, “I was hoping you would take me to see the floating lights.”

Snoke looked shocked, but recovered quickly.

“Oh. Yes, the stars.”

“That’s the thing!” Kylo countered excitedly, “I’ve charted stars, and they’re always constant, but these lights appear every year on my birthday, only on my birthday, and I can’t help but feel that they’re...meant for me.”

Snoke laughed, a cruel and cold sound, and Kylo winced as it pierced his ears.

“My heir apparent, the Prince of Darkness, believes that a Festival of Light is intended for him?”

Kylo said nothing, simply closing the curtain back over his painting and hanging his head sadly.

“My boy,” Snoke crooned, reaching out for Kylo, and he moved to sit in front of his Father, allowing him to run his hands through his long, dark hair, “Even if, by some ridiculous twist of fate, these lights were meant for you - how could I put you, whom I love most, in such danger? You are all I have, my child, and likewise, I am all you have. Without each other, we are lost. You are not ready to venture out into the cruel world of man.”

Kylo nodded, an errant tear dripping down his nose.

“Look at you,” Snoke whispered, “Still but a sapling. I guess I always knew this day was coming. Soon you’ll leave the nest - soon, not yet. Trust me, my boy - Father knows best. It’s a scary world out there. Listen to me - ruffians, thugs, poison ivy, quicksand, cannibals, snakes, and the plague! Large bugs, men with pointy teeth - Stop! No more. You’ll just upset me.”

_I haven’t been able to get a word out edgewise,_ Kylo thought.

“Don’t forget it,” Snoke finished, standing to pick up his cloak once more, “Or you’ll regret it. I will decide when your training is complete. Never ask to leave this tower again.”

“Yes, Father.”

All too soon, Snoke was shrugging on his outerwear, covering up his blood red robes, and Kylo was lowering him down to the ground once more.

“I’ll see you soon, my son,” Snoke called up from the forest floor.

“I’ll be here,” Kylo whispered dejectedly, staring at his Father’s retreating figure, letting his long, dark hair wave in the wind as it hung out the window of the tower.

***

Rey, Plutt, and Teedo were sprinting through the forest on the outskirts of Alderaan, the Royal army in hot pursuit, when they were forced to take a breather, Rey leaning up against a huge tree, doubled over and gasping for air. She glanced up at the tree and froze when two pieces of paper caught her eye. She ripped the higher one down and held it out to Plutt and Teedo.

“Oh no,” Rey said, “No, no, no, no no. This is bad. This is very, very bad. This is really bad.”

Plutt and Teedo turned to look at the paper.

WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE  
_Rey Skywalker, Thief_

Below her name and job description was a drawing of Rey. Teedo and Plutt were drawn on the other flyer, still stapled to the tree.

“They just can’t get my nose right!” Rey cried mournfully, showing off the atrocity that was the artistic rendition of her beautiful face, and Teedo and Plutt rolled their eyes at her.

“Who cares?” Teedo asked spitefully.

“Well it’s easy for you to say!” Rey shot back. “You boys look amazing!” She bent down to examine the image of Plutt and Teedo closer.

Her misery was interrupted by the sound of a horse neighing. The three whipped around and saw the Royal guards poised on the cliff above them, their charges pulling at their reigns.

The thieves took off through the forests, the soldiers in hot pursuit.

Rey, Plutt and Teedo were making phenomenal time until - 

A dead end. They were trapped.

Rey turned quickly to her oversized, over - armed companions.

“Alright, okay,” she said, her mind working at light speed, “Give me a boost, and I’ll pull you up.”

The two looked at each other and then back at Rey.

“Give us the satchel first,” Plutt insisted.

Rey exclaimed in disbelief and shock.

“Well, I just can’t believe that after all we’ve been through together you two don’t trust me!”

Plutt and Teedo said nothing.

“Ouch,” Rey conceded, and she unwillingly handed the precious satchel over to Teedo.

Rey scrambled up the tower Plutt and Teedo created with impressive dexterity. She had always been this athletic, even as a child, and it served her well in her chosen profession. When she got to the top of the overlook, she gazed back down at her henchmen.

“Now help us up, baby doll,” Plutt leered at her, extending a meaty hand upwards, and Rey bristled at the slur.

“Sorry, fellas,” Rey drawled, sticking her own arm out to reveal the satchel, snatched from their grasps as she clambered up their backs, “My hands are full.” She flashed them a winning smile.

Teedo and Plutt’s indignant shouts followed her as she raced through the brush, weaving in and out of trees, desperate to put as much space between the satchel and the soldiers as possible. She could sense the calvary gaining on her, and she nearly tripped in her desperation to escape. 

“Retrieve that satchel at any cost!” She heard a soldier yell from behind her.

“Yes, sir!”

Rey dodged a flurry of arrows and she cursed under her breath. She was able to lose most of the horseback guards - all except one.

“We’ve got her now, Beebee - Ate!” Commander Poe Dameron of the Royal army cried to his trusty steed.

Rey couldn’t afford a mistake now, so she grabbed onto a vine, swung around a gargantuan tree, and slammed right into Dameron, knocking him off his horse and taking his place in the saddle.

“Ha!” Rey shrieked with laughter and urged the white horse forward, but he screeched to a halt, nearly sending Rey flying off his back as well.

“Come on, fleabag,” Rey groaned, kicking her heels into the stupid horse’s flank, glancing around at the empty forest surrounding them, “Forward!”

The horse began biting at the satchel! What the kriff was wrong with this animal?

“No!” Rey yelled, chastising the beast, “Stop it! Stop! Give that to me!”

The ridiculous horse tugged hard on the bag and it almost ripped, but instead, it flew over a nearby ledge and got caught on an overhanging tree branch.

Rey and the horse looked at each other momentarily before taking off after the satchel.

Rey got to the prize first, being smaller and faster, but the moment the fat horse stepped out onto the tree limb it broke, sending the two careening down into the abyss below, Rey cursing the domestication of livestock the whole way down.

Luckily, she dusted herself off unscathed, and hid behind a thick curtain of green vines as the idiot horse sniffed around on the ground for her. Good riddance!

She glanced around the dark little cave in which she found herself. It appeared to lead somewhere, so rather than take her chances with a bloodthirsty equine, she ventured deeper, her bravery rewarded when she emerged a few short moments later into a clearing where a huge, seemingly abandoned tower sat, just waiting for Rey to take up residence. It was easily seven stories tall, all moss and white brick at the base with a blue pointy roof. Her eyes widened at the cascading waterfall behind it.

Rey ran to the foot of the tower and pulled two arrows, which had been previously aimed at her heart, out of the satchel and began climbing up the stone exterior, muscling her way up the extraordinarily tall tower. She grunted in exertion; her biceps were on fire and sweat glistened on her brow but she kept climbing, egged on by the braying of that infernal donkey down below.

Finally, she hauled herself through an open window all the way at the top of the tower, slamming the brown shutters closed behind her. She doubled over for a moment, leaning against a pillar to catch her breath before straightening up and checking that the crown was still secure inside her bag.

“Alone at last,” Rey crooned to her handiwork.

Then the world went inexplicably black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this ridiculous first chapter! Some notes:  
> 1\. If you want to follow along in the movie, Chapter 1 covers from 00:00-19:30.  
> 2\. Obviously relying pretty heavily on the source material here, but never fear! Originality is here, so don't expect to become bored if you've memorized Tangled by heart (like me).  
> 3\. Just for the record, I hate the Rey Skywalker plotline of TROS as much as the next dude, but if you're familiar with Flynn Rider, hopefully my choice makes sense.  
> 4\. NEXT CHAPTER OUR HERO AND HEROINE MEET AND I AM VERY EXCITED ABOUT IT.  
> Please let me know what you think! This is just a fun, silly little fic I'm writing because inspiration strikes at the most inconvenient times. Oops!


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